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A German company which produced an impotency drug has gone bankrupt after the capsules were banned for being twice as powerful as Viagra.

Dortmund-based Dexter Vital registered as insolvent on Tuesday – marking the end of its fight to stay in business after its erectile dysfunction drug was banned in March by the Arnsberg regional government in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) reported that despite being marketed as a “natural” supplement to help erectile dysfunction, tests showed that Dexter Vital actually contained powerful chemicals found in prescription drugs, like Viagra.

The firm was not licensed to make, or sell the potent drug and as its only product, the ban meant that they went bankrupt.

The drug made headlines in Germany earlier in the year when broadcaster ZDF ran an investigation on it – outing it as containing chemicals usually only available with prescription.

Dexter Vital claimed, however, that its product was “natural support for an easy boost of the male libido.” It was on sale both online and in a number of pharmacies.

Company director Juliane Fahnert told WAZ in March that the tests showed an “impurity” in the drug – referring to the chemicals found by tests run for ZDF. The programme had left the company “shocked” she said, adding that the drug would be taken out of circulation until this was rectified.

The insolvency lawyer handling the case told the WAZ that as the company had just one product, it had little chance of survival.

According to the newspaper, bosses from Dexter Vital filed the insolvency declaration themselves.

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